Entries by Steve Patterson

We all wanted to be like Billy McCoy

Way back in the 1970’s and 1980’s there were a good many aspiring young progressive political wannabes roaming around Mississippi. I was among them. We all shared a desire to make a difference, to serve what we all viewed as an under-served state. We wanted to bring Mississippi, kicking and screaming, into the twentieth century. […]

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Steve Patterson: “Lest We Forget”

“and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free“ John 8:32″   Twelve years ago this month I experienced one of the most impactful afternoons of my life. After having spent a week walking in the footsteps of “the prince of peace,“ who’s last commandment to his followers was to love […]

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“A Republic, if we can keep it.” –Steve Patterson

[su_quote] “Are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell With no kinda chance for the flag or the liberty bell Wish a Ford and a Chevy Would last ten years like they should Is the best of the free life behind us now Are the good times really over for good ?” –Merle […]

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Steve Patterson: Hanging out with some very old Jews

[su_quote]“America’s public policies of the last 6 decades have not only ignored poverty, but criminalized it!” –Steve Patterson[/su_quote] I have been spending a lot of time with friends lately, a motley crew of old Jews. Not high school or college buddies, or bird hunting or fishing pals, nor even my old political cohorts with whom […]

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Steve Patterson: The Evil in us all

Have you seen Evil lately? Do you know where it lives? How big it is? Is it educated or illiterate, rich or poor, gregarious or bashful? Is it Muslin, Christian, or Jew? Is it hideously ugly or stunningly beautiful? What color is Evil? Is evil something we are, or something we do, or something we […]

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Steve Patterson: Sundays on Grandma’s porch

With a nod to William Faulkner and O. Henry, guest author Steve Patterson recalls poignant lessons learned on Grandma’s porch.   I well remember my grandmother getting up so early Sunday mornings the sun was not even up, so the horizon was just awakening with the slightest glimmer of red, a dash of orange and […]

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Steve Patterson: “Who’d a thunk it?”

  [su_quote]“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics will not take an interest in you.” –Pericles[/su_quote]   Back in the day, when someone stated the obvious, a frequent response was “who’d a thought it” or, even more likely, “Who’d a thunk it?” That old phrase has been running through […]

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Steve Patterson: Truth and setting the record straight

[su_quote]“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.” –William Faulkner[/su_quote] Truth is elusive. Truth is increasingly rare and, therefore, extremely valuable. Truth is scarce and never simple. It is not ours to choose, nor is it dependent on our own capacity to tolerate it. […]

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Steve Patterson: Soul-stirring voices in the Delta

[su_quote]“Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, ‘and behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the Wind ;and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord […]

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Steve Patterson: “Baloney is not cheap!”

[su_quote]If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. –Adolf Hitler[/su_quote]   Alabama’s Governor George C. Wallace once appeared on a Sunday talk show during his heyday as a demagogic segregationist. There, he proclaimed a profound truth — one that has stood the test of time, and is […]

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Steve Patterson on Senator Fritz Hollings: The last of the Mohicans

[su_quote]“I’m the last of the Mohicans.”      —South Carolina Senator Ernest “Fritz “ Hollings,        Farewell address to the United States Senate [/su_quote]   The roar of the last of the old Southern Democrat lions of the United States Senate has been silenced. My friend and role model, Senator Ernest F. Hollings […]

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